


The Pink Lip Massacre

by wolfvegas



Category: Fallout (Video Games)
Genre: Killing Spree, Mass shooting, Nuka Cola, Pre-Apocalypse, Pre-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 10:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16239986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfvegas/pseuds/wolfvegas
Summary: The story of how one soft drink decimated an entire town.Nuka Pink Mist was a cotton candy flavored energy drink manufactured by Nuka Cola between 2066-67. It was discontinued amid controversy after being linked to various high profile violent crimes.°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•Marketed as a study aid for teenagers and young students, it contained a list of 25 ingredients, including high levels of caffeine, Taurine and the controversial additive "Occidorine" which is around 200 times as sweet as sugar. After evidence emerged that the beverage was highly addictive, Nuka had to put warning labels on bottles advising customers not to drink more than 2 bottles a day.°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•Sold in a clear bottle with a pink label, the liquid itself was a bright pink color which turned the lips pink upon drinking. Nuka originally used the image of the pink-lipped drinker as a marketing gimmick but quickly dropped this image after negative associations began to surface in the press.





	The Pink Lip Massacre

O Little Town of Death-Lehem!

Menchit, Texas. Once a thriving hub of America's Deep South, now, quite literally a ghost town. Local businesses have been forced to close and torn apart families have uprooted and moved away. A BlamCo Mac & Cheese factory lies in ruin. At the heart of town a derelict building, once a proud and vibrant shopping mall, waits to be bulldozed to the ground. All because of one little pink bottle.

"It tasted sickly sweet, like fizzy syrup. You could feel the rush going straight to your head, and depending on how much you've had you would either sit up all night studying or counting the amount of times you blinked every hour."

The Nuka-Cola Corporation is the largest beverage corporation in the United States and manufacturer of the world's most popular soft-drink: Nuka Cola. With 4 theme parks and another due to open next year, CEO John-Caleb Bradberton is always looking to extend the franchise with new flavors and varieties, encountering varying levels of success.

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"I felt like I was falling behind in school so I started drinking a bottle every morning just to get going, you know, they sold them in the cafeteria vending machine. After a few weeks I was drinking about 5/6 bottles a day, I just couldn't stop. I used to take a hunting knife and peel the empty bottles like I was peeling an apple, I don't know why I did that".

In February 2066, the company launched its latest product: Nuka Pink Mist, a cotton candy flavored energy drink aimed at high school students said to "Turn Donnie D minus into Artie A plus!". Some parent-teacher associations lobbied to have the drink banned from high-schools, not only because of the copious amounts of sugar and caffeine contained in one serving, but also because of the addition of controversial additive "Occidorine", a synthetic compound developed by Nuka scientists which, although fully approved for human consumption by the Food and Drug Administration, was found in unofficial trials held by Mount Jasperton University to be not only "highly toxic and addictive" but also an "extremely potent adrenergic agonist found to cause moderate to severe psychosis in 1 out of 10 trial participants."

"Your lips turned pink when you drank it so you looked like a glam rocker. Around examination time you would look around the room and see 90% of students had that pink glow."

The first indication that all was not well came in April '66, when PipNewz carried a story of a high school in Vermont where 24 students bearing the telltale pink lips were suspended after a bare-knuckle brawl broke out when the school's Eat'o'tronic ran out of YumYum Deviled Eggs. 9 of those involved had to receive medical treatment for facial injuries. The next month a 22-year-old female was arrested for firing several shots at the Mr Posto mail robot after it delivered her a summons for jury duty, her resulting pink-lipped mugshot became a popular internet meme and was often parodied on television talk-shows. What followed was a series of increasingly violent and often bizarre crimes - the perpetrators often young people with no history of mental illness or previous criminal records, all culminating that one fateful day in May 2067.

"I knew him, we were in the Junior Rocket Rodeos together, he seemed pretty normal - a bit shy even."

Crandalph P. Sundenbock was a senior at Menchit High and, judging by his teeth, an avid Pink Mist drinker. Fairly unremarkable, he was never in trouble, came from a stable family background and had no known history of depression. On Saturday, May 21st, he entered Menchit Mills Mall with a .45 submachine gun and opened fire on shoppers and staff inside, killing 52 people and injuring 41. When police arrived at the scene he turned the weapon on himself and died of his injuries. No motive for the shooting was ever established and a police search of his bedroom found a wad of Pink Mist labels stuck together in paper mache style the size of a football.

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The town was shocked and the tragedy was dubbed the Pink Lip Massacre as survivors spoke of the pink glowing lips he had sported at the time. Nuka Cola issued a statement of sympathy yet maintained the safety of Pink Mist, however after facing a series of lawsuits from victims' families totaling $100 million they ceased production of the drink and removed the "Pink Mist Kersplash!" water ride from their theme parks.

"I fell to the floor thinking someone had slapped me hard on the back, then I saw all the blood and realized I'd been shot. I just lay there... he didn't look crazy, he looked calm, as though he was just sweeping the floor."

In time the world forgot about Pink Mist. Nuka Cola is still the most popular soft drink in the world and the brand is thought to be worth upwards of $200 billion. But Menchit hasn't forgotten. This May will see the 4th anniversary of the shooting, due to be remembered in a small service at the town center. The old abandoned mall is now closed to the public but mourners can still leave flowers and wreaths outside.

And try once more to rebuild lives shattered in an instant by the actions of one pink-lipped boy.


End file.
